Through the Eyes of Another
by Bagpuss
Summary: (GS) There's somebody out targeting the police and the CSI's have to stop them, meanwhile Sara gets some perspective
1. Chapter 1

Through the Eyes of Another Chapter 1  
  
Disclaimer: The usual thing, I own nothing. I have no money, if I'd thought this up first maybe I would. then again I'd have been like thirteen then so no one would have listened to me anyway.  
  
Synopsis: Basically Sara sees things through Grissom's eyes (or hears things through his ears) when an accident causes her to lose her hearing.  
  
Grissom stood in the doorway of the break room. Inside were Catherine, Nick and Warrick. For a moment he wondered where Sara was, then he remembered. It was her night off. He'd told her last week she had to take at least one night off, that she was running herself into the ground. His head ached. Maybe he should follow his own advice.  
Everyone inside the break room looked half asleep. A fire at a casino off the strip had driven away most of the tourists, the weather was horribly hot, people were staying in, cases per week had almost halved. Almost.  
"Warrick. Nick." Grissom's voice caused the assembled group to look up. "You've got a break-in. Catherine, you're with me." He told them handing sheets of paper round. Even in the cool, light, air-conditioned building it was too hot to get much of a response out of the group. Nick muttered something under his breath and pushed out his chair. Warrick followed him out of the room.  
"Have fun." Catherine called after them, knowing that moments before Grissom had entered Nick had revealed that if Grissom produced another breaking-and-entering for them Nick would personally see to it that the phrase got a new meaning. She turned to Grissom, "What've we got, boss?" He handed her a sheet of paper. "A threatening phone call! Is this a joke?"  
"Catherine, I don't joke." He told her sternly, but when Catherine looked up she could see a sparkle in his eye. "The police received a phone call saying that one of their squad cars was going to blow up. All the cars have been checked, none of them are carrying bombs, or any kind of explosives, but they want us to look into it."  
"Let me guess, the tip-off came from a pre-paid cell phone?"  
"It appears so, Brass is looking into it."  
"Well. better get started then."  
  
Catherine knew that Grissom didn't have to sit in with her as Archie played, and re-played the recording from the phone call looking for any background noise that might suggest where the call was made from. She knew that he had plenty of paperwork that he could have been doing. Despite this she knew that the real reason that he was sitting in with her listening to the recording was because he could.  
'Las Vegas Police Department.'  
'One of your cars is going to blow up.'  
'I beg your pardon!'  
'One of your cars is going to blow up. This is a warning.'  
'Excuse me sir, can I -'  
'I am warning you. Ignore this and people may die. One of your cars is going to blow up.'  
They had listened to it several times already. They could hear a slight echo in the background; maybe the caller had been in a hall of some kind, or an empty room. The voice had obviously been distorted, they'd see to fixing that later, at the moment they needed something to help them figure out where the call had been made from. "Go back to the beginning." Grissom instructed, looking thoughtful. It began to play for the third time. "Right, stop now. No go back a bit. There. Stop. What was that?" Catherine looked up. "Can you make it louder?" She asked. She'd barely heard the faint noise. "What is that?"  
The little lines on the monitor danced up and down and a gushing noise could be heard, louder now. "Where do you get running water and an echo?" Grissom asked. Catherine raised an eyebrow. "A bathroom." She suggested after a moment of thought. "He made the call from a bathroom."  
"And if someone else was running the water then someone else could have heard our caller. Public restroom, possibly?"  
"Archie, take out the voices, just play the background." Catherine told him, they'd done this already but now she had more hope of finding something. Archie did as he was instructed. "Take out the water too."  
Grissom watched her wondering what she was thinking of, then as it played again it dawned on him. The water had been used to cover up the voice of someone speaking in the background, the voice sounded distant, but they were announcing something, the name of a bar or club perhaps?  
'. know it's the best place, welcome to Rain -'  
"I think that someone just told us where the phone call was made from. They must have run the water once they realized that the DJ or whoever was about to give away the location." Grissom said sitting back in his chair. Catherine stood up. "I'll go find Brass. He can check out all the bars, clubs and discos with Rain in their name. Maybe we'll find one which matches." Grissom got up too, after asking Archie to run a reverse algorithm on the recording and pull out the voice of the DJ speaking in the background he left, giving the young technician instructions to find him as soon as all was done.  
  
Sara was sitting on the floor of her new apartment; there were boxes all around her. She was trying to remember why she had decided to move and why it had to be the hottest month of the year when she decided to do so. This apartment was bigger, that was true, it was also closer to work and in a better area. It had been a spur of the moment thing. One day she'd been driving home from work, had a craving for some ice cream so stopped into the all night mini-mart round the corner from the lab. Next door to it was an estate agents and she just happened to spot the place in the window. Within a week she'd packed up and left her old home and now she was here. She kept on telling herself over and over again that the spare room was the perfect place to use as an office, she could have a computer and all her forensics books in there and that the extra space meant that she could get some new furniture, but part of her missed the tidily cluttered feel of her old apartment.  
She sighed, got up, picked her way through the boxes (since when had she had so many clothes) and found her way into the kitchen. Her fridge hadn't survived the move, it no longer was able to keep things cool and the new one wouldn't be delivered for another week. This meant that anything that she bought had to either be stored in the freezer or consumed as quickly as possible. Standing on the counter beside the sink was a cool- box. It wasn't actually hers, it was Hank's, it had been in her car when they came back from the vineyard when Grissom called her in on her day off, it had never actually made it's way back to Hank after that. She reached in and pulled out a semi-cool carton of orange juice, just as her phone rang.  
"Sara Sidle?" She asked checking her watch, who was calling her at this time?  
"Sara. I know it's your day off. Catherine's had to go, Lindsey's sick."  
"Grissom? Oh. Okay. I'll be there in a bit." She told him before hanging up. She had to smile at the irony of it all. Maybe the cool-box was cursed.  
  
Catherine felt a little guilty about having to leave work. She also felt guilty about leaving Lindsey with the sitter. She'd known that she hadn't been feeling well. But the night was slow, unless something really big came in, no one would miss her. Grissom didn't even need to call in Sara to help him on the odd case they'd been stuck with.  
At home Lindsey was in bed feeling really sorry for herself. Catherine once again scolded herself for leaving the little girl at home without her as the child hugged her mother and cried that her head hurt. It wasn't serious, just a stomach bug, half the kids in Lindsey's class had it. By tomorrow the worst of it would be over and by the end of the week her daughter would be back at school. All the same, she had a feeling that something important was going to happen with their case and that she was going to miss it.  
  
When Catherine had told him that she would have to leave Grissom thought nothing of it. Nick and Warrick were working their case, in fact, they were interviewing a suspect at that very moment. Brass was still making inquiries into the club that the call was made from and soon Grissom would be required to go and check out the club for any evidence of their mystery caller. He did not relish the thought of having to go and search through a public bathroom for clues as to the person (or more likely people) who had made the threatening phone call.  
The pile of paperwork on his desk was virtually non-existent. He'd worked through most of it that week and there was really nothing left for him to do. Sighing, he got up from his desk and made his way to the break room. It was empty, no sign of anyone else. Looking along the corridor he could see Greg bent over his microscope and occasionally looking up to talk to someone just out of view. Apart from that one tiny movement, the place was deserted. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, flicking through a forensics journal that someone had left there, it was about six months old and he found himself resisting the urge to make corrections to a theory which had since been proved false.  
He couldn't help but think of Sara. She'd moved house, he knew that because she'd had Nick and Warrick helping her move furniture. He'd had Nick tell him about her place and actually found himself hoping that she'd have some sort of house warming, he wanted to know what her new place was like. If it hadn't been for Nick and Warrick he probably wouldn't have found out until some form came his way with her new address on it. He missed their old ways, things had been easy between them, but now conversation was no longer simple and the old jokes were forgotten.  
"Gil. Got your club." Brass told him as he entered the room. He checked a sheet of paper and continued. "It's a Rainbow Express. Owned by Mr. Raulez." He gave details of the location and started to leave the room. Grissom made up his mind. "You coming?" Brass asked, turning back when he realized that Grissom wasn't following him.  
"I have to phone Sara." Brass looked at him questioningly. "I'm still not sure where the call was made from, it's probably a restroom, but it could be a staff room or a kitchen. I'm not processing the entire thing myself. Catherine had to go home." He shrugged as he moved past Brass and headed away down the corridor.  
  
Sara arrived at the club. It had been taped off although chances were whatever evidence had been inside had been destroyed by the clubbers. Since the voice on the tape had been male it made sense to check the men's bathroom, nobody had said anything about seeing a man using the women's restroom. They each took a bathroom and checked it out. Since the time of the phone call she estimated that approximately thirty or forty men had passed through the bathroom, at least that many. Despite its uselessness prints had to be taken from all the male patrons and prints had to be lifted from the flush handles and taps. It took best part of an hour to process the room, which yielded next to nothing. Grissom seemed more hopeful of finding something and even went so far as to have the toilets checked in case the cell phone that the call had been made from had been flushed. It hadn't.  
Sara began taking the evidence back to the cars. Greg was not going to be happy about having to go through all this. Brass was in the club talking to the owner, apparently it was not uncommon to have people making phone calls in the restrooms, the noise from the club made it impossible to hear. As she left Sara noted that the walls were tastelessly painted in gaudy, bright colors. Obviously the walls were part of a general gimmick going on with the name. In the dark she supposed they probably looked okay but with the bright lights on the whole place appeared tacky and dirty. She continued her journey out to the car. Opened the trunk, heaved a box of evidence into place, slammed the door and turned back towards the club. Grissom was coming out carrying his field kit and another, smaller, box of evidence. Then something odd happened. She saw a huge flash out of the corner of her eye, in a moment she heard a loud noise, a 'Whoosh!' combined with someone dropping a load of crockery. She felt a pain in her neck as a force she'd never felt before threw her to the ground, and then all she heard was silence.  
  
TBC  
  
I'd love to hear what you think of it so far. At the moment I'm not sure how it's going to end, but your feedback will probably influence that. I'll get the next bit up ASAP! 


	2. Chapter 2

Through the Eyes of Another Chapter 2  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1  
  
When she came round there was someone standing over her. There was a fire not too far away, she could feel the heat and smell the fumes. Then she realized that someone had two hands firmly on either side of her head, supporting her neck. For a moment she panicked trying to remember what had happened. When she finally recalled the last few seconds she still had a grasp of she immediately wished that she hadn't. She tried to crane her neck to see who was standing by her, she thought she heard someone say something but it seemed fuzzy and far away, like someone was speaking through jello. Apart from that she could just hear a permanent ringing in her ears. She felt dizzy and a little ill, her head ached. She made one last effort to keep a hold of her consciousness before losing the battle and passing out again.  
Grissom had seen her turning to face him, he'd watched her take a few steps away from the car when the police car two along from where she had parked exploded. There was no warning, it just made an odd noise, shuddered and let out an intense burst of flame. His first thought had been of Sara, she was the one closest to the explosion. She'd been thrown a few feet and was lying face down in the road. Grissom had carefully taken hold of her head to support her neck as her breathing and pulse were checked. At one point she had regained consciousness, although she seemed to be pretty out of it, but then she'd passed out again. He hoped that she wasn't seriously hurt.  
It seemed to take an age for the ambulance to arrive, it was followed closely by a fire engine and more police cars. The paramedics gave Sara a once over before strapping her to a spinal board and transporting her to the hospital. Brass quickly moved on to taking statements from eye witnesses so Grissom simply picked up his box of evidence and field kit, put them in his car and drove back to the lab.  
  
Warrick and Nick had been eating together in the break room. The lab was backed up and they were waiting for their results to be processed. They just needed the DNA that they found at the scene to match that of their male suspect and they would have solved the cause, and exposed an insurance fraud. The news was on in the background as they talked. Suddenly it switched to a scene outside a club. They both looked up from their food.  
"Wasn't that where Grissom was going?" Nick asked as they looked at the devastation on the screen. The remains of two burnt out police cars could be seen. Next to them was a black Tahoe, half of it had been torn apart and it was lying on it's side. The picture zoomed in on a blue denim jacket on the road beside the wreck. It looked spookily familiar.  
"A young woman has been taking to hospital with minor injuries, it is thought that she was one of the police officers investigating a case involving the Rainbow Express club. At the moment we have no news on who might have been responsible for this explosion which destroyed two police cars and caused a great deal of damage to the buildings along this street." The female news reporter told them. Nick sat out and pulled out his cell phone. "I'm calling Grissom. Wasn't Sara with him? That looked like her car." But Warrick caught his eye and pointed at the doorway. A disheveled looking Grissom had just walked in.  
"Man. Are you okay? We saw the news. Where's Sara?" Warrick questioned his boss.  
"Sara? Oh. The explosion. I think they took her to Desert Palms." Grissom told them. His voice was barely above a whisper. Nick got up and poured his supervisor a drink of water. He appeared to be in shock. "Is it serious?"  
"I should go and see. She was unconscious." Grissom sipped the water and started to get up.  
"Why don't you just take a moment?" Warrick told him. Even as he was drinking the shock was passing and the realization of what had happened was sinking in.  
"She was unconscious." He repeated, his eyes were become less glazed and fiercer. "She was just lying there. For a moment I thought. I thought. I." He couldn't bring himself to say it. "I need to go and see her."  
"I'll call a cab for you. I don't think that you should be driving." Nick told him, expecting some sort of objection. Grissom nodded. "There's some evidence in my car." He told them laying his keys on the table. "The rest was in Sara's car so I doubt whether it survived. Can you get it to the lab for me?"  
The two younger men nodded and watched as he went along to his office to clean himself up and wait for his cab. He'd been in such a state. Whatever had happened to Sara had to have been serious.  
  
Grissom had waited for news of Sara for some time. At first the doctors weren't keen on her having visitors but after a while some nurses took pity on the despondent man sitting on the hard plastic chairs and ushered him into her room saying that he couldn't stay long as she needed to rest.  
"She's been suffering from a slight hearing loss." The nurse told him as she led him along the corridor. "It's not unusual considering how close to the explosion she was. It should pass soon. At most within the week, although in some cases it can take longer. The doctor's already spoken to her about it."  
The nurse put her head around the door and told Sara that she had a visitor. When Grissom entered the room he saw her propped up on the pillows. She seemed so pale against the white sheets. The only bit of color in the room beside the tinted blue walls was the splash of brown hair across her pillow. She gave him a weak smile as he entered.  
"I'll leave you two alone. I'm afraid I can't give you too long." The nurse said, more to Grissom than Sara.  
Grissom thanked the nurse and when he turned back to Sara he realized that she was studying him intently. He moved towards her bed slowly as she spoke.  
"I can't hear very well at the moment." She told him quietly as if she was unsure of the pitch of her voice. She took care to say each word and he guessed that she was deliberately speaking quietly to compensate for not being able to hear what she was saying. He'd been there himself. Grissom took the chair beside her bed and as he sat down asked her how much she could hear. "Can you look at me when you speak? It doesn't help me hear you, and I can't lip read, but it gives me clues. You can't talk too loudly around here."  
Grissom nodded and felt rather embarrassed. He of all people should know that. He looked down at the bed where Sara's hand was resting, there was a large bruise on her forearm, which he guessed had been caused by flying debris. Mentally he traced the outline and he was so deep in his thoughts that when she moved her hand to reach for something on the bedside table it made him jump. She handed him a notepad and pen.  
The notepad was small and had already been used for several notes. They were in a scrawl, which was typical of most doctors, virtually unreadable, he scanned what had been written about Sara's condition.  
"Nosy."  
He looked up, expecting her to be cross, instead he was met with a grin. He took the pen and wrote I'm sorry.  
"Sorry? For what?"  
For reading what your doctor wrote. For the accident. It should have been your night off.  
"Yeah, but otherwise it could have been Cath lying here."  
I'd rather it wasn't anyone.  
"You're blaming yourself."  
Wouldn't you? Sara didn't answer. She was looking at him thoughtfully. What are you thinking about?  
"Why are you here?"  
Because you're hurt. Because of me.  
"It's nothing. Just a few scratches." She interrupted him as he wrote.  
And you can't hear.  
She watched him as he turned the page, he didn't write any thing more. "Well you told me I should take some time off." She smiled but she was obviously trying to hide her fear. The doctor had said that in over ninety percent of these cases the hearing would return, but what if Sara was one of those few for whom it didn't? He'd had to face losing his job because of his hearing, it would kill him if someone as good as Sara had to give up her job because of this. She looked a little depressed and he couldn't think why he hadn't noticed it before.  
How are you feeling?  
"Good. I guess. Apart from this. Like I said, apart from the ringing in my ears I'm fine."  
We're going to catch the person who did this. He stared at the page. He hadn't meant to write that. He'd been thinking it, but he didn't want to say it, not if it meant getting Sara's hopes up just so that he could let her down.  
"You can't promise that." She scolded lightly as if she were reading his mind. "You don't know if it's related to the case we were looking at or not. Someone could have found out about the phone call and just decided to use it as an opportunity to get back at the cops."  
Don't be so negative. Sara smiled as she read what he was writing.  
"I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic."  
There's a difference.  
"Griss -"  
We'll need a statement from you.  
"I know. I talked to the police earlier. But I'm not much use. I didn't hear anything, or see anything. I just remember this flash and this noise and then something pushing me down. Do you think the cases are connected?"  
I'm not ruling it out. Sara yawned and smiled at him. You're tired. You need to rest.  
She started to protest but just then the nurse came back and ushered Grissom out of the room, telling him that Sara needed to rest and that he needed to go catch some criminals.  
  
Back at CSI the first person that Grissom met was Greg. The young man looked incredibly worried. "Sara's fine." He reassured him. "She's suffering a bit of hearing loss from the explosion, but that should pass. She'll be back before you know it." Greg didn't say a word. He disappeared back into the lab to continue processing DNA that had been taken from the club. It was a pointless task and Grissom felt rather guilty making him do it, the chances of finding anything useful from it were next to nothing. "Grissom." He stopped in his tracks. "Catherine. What are you doing here? What about Lindsey?" "She's feeling better now. I think it was just a twenty-four hour thing. My sister's watching her. Why didn't you call me? I heard on the news. is Sara. okay?" "What are they saying on the news?" "Nothing much. Before they were saying a female police officer and now they're saying a female CSI, and I knew I was okay. Why did you call her in?" "Because there was no way that I was working that whole club by myself. You know Sara. She was happy to lend a hand. Have we got anything new?" "Well Archie's done separating the tracks. But until we've got a voice to compare it to that's not much help." Grissom sighed but Catherine's tone suggested that there was better news to come. "Brass is looking for you. Apparently they have an eye witness who saw someone doing something to the police car right before the explosion." "Great." He continued walking down the corridor towards his office. "Where are Nick and Warrick?" "Nick's with Brass. Warrick's at the scene. It's pretty impossible to move the police cars without destroying the evidence. They're just shells. He's processing them there." Grissom made his way into his office and sat down at his desk. Catherine followed him, although he didn't pay her much attention. "Are we going to see this eye witness?" She asked impatiently from the doorway. "I need a moment." He replied, not looking up. Catherine realized that having Sara in hospital was probably tough for him. She knew what it was like to be the cause of a friend's injury, and while Grissom hadn't been the direct cause of Sara's hospitalization, he was blaming himself. In some ways that was worse. "What's wrong with Sara?" "Cuts and bruises mostly. She was pretty close to the explosion though. She's been having some trouble with her hearing." "Will she get it back?" "Hopefully. I might recommend Dr. Roth to her, just to make sure that there's nothing else that can be done. The doctor just said 'wait and see'." "Griss. Gil. She'll be okay. This is Sara we're talking about." Catherine caught his eye and he smiled weakly at her. She knew that if Sara's hearing didn't return she'd be out of a job and as being a CSI was Sara's life it would be a disaster. Catherine put a hand on Grissom's arm in an effort to make him relax. "I'm okay. Where's this eye witness then?"  
  
Yes I know. Not a whole lot happening. Look out for some action soon. 


	3. Chapter 3

Through the Eyes of Another Chapter 3  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1  
  
"Can you tell me what you saw, Mr. Collins?"  
"Like I told the other guy, it all happened really quickly. You guys were looking round the club so we were all outside, being interviewed and stuff. The police cars were right across the road from where we were standing."  
"Yes?" Grissom asked irritably. Catherine shot him a warning glare.  
"Well this guy came out of the crowd. He was carrying something. He went over to the police car closest to us and did something, I don't know what. Then he walked off. I guessed he was one of the cops or something. Then about five minutes later there was this explosion."  
"Can you describe him? What was he wearing?"  
"I dunno. It was dark. He was about the same height as me and he had a black hat and jacket on. Jeans as well I think."  
"And which direction did he walk off in?"  
"Well to begin with I thought he was going to go back to the crowd. He was heading towards us. Then someone moved in front of me and he turned. umm. left, yeah, left, he was heading towards the bank."  
Grissom and Catherine took some more details before thanking the man and leaving. They were just heading back to Grissom's office to review some pictures of the scene when Warrick met up with them.  
"I think I've found something important." He told them breathlessly. They followed him to the layout room where set out on the table were several blackened pieces of metal. "There was metal every where but this stuff isn't from the cars. It's too thick. I think this is what caused it."  
"A bomb?" Catherine asked looking at Grissom.  
"Maybe. There's writing on this. Let's try and find out what it says." He picked up a piece of the charred material. "It looks like some kind of Gas Canister."  
"I'm onto it now." Warrick told them, gathering up his evidence and leaving the room.  
"Find Nick, get him to help you with it." Grissom called after him. He was anxious to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible. If somebody was targeting the police and had hurt Sara how long was it until someone else got hurt.  
"Will do." Warrick called back.  
  
"Okay. What've we got?" Grissom asked his assembled team. They were standing around the table in the Drying room, pictures of the crime scene were hung about the walls, boxes of evidence were on the table and the group was one short.  
"We've got a lead." Nick chirped quickly. "The metal which you guessed came from some kind of gas canister, it's from an Oxygen cylinder. The thing was pretty much blown apart but we managed to find a serial number. Brass is checking it out."  
"Yeah. And the burn was mainly on the inside. The thing exploded after being exposed to heat. Could it have gone up after the main explosion?" Warrick asked.  
"I doubt it. Everyone we've spoken to says that there was only one explosion. Let me see it." Warrick pulled out some evidence bags and handed them to Grissom. He held up the pieces and examined the markings on them.  
"I had Jaqui look for prints, but there weren't even partials." Warrick told him; although he had a feeling that Grissom either wasn't listening or already knew this.  
"Look at the burn pattern." He said after a minute. "Did you find the valve?" Warrick shook his head. "Get back there and see if you can find it. It could be anywhere."  
"What're you thinking?" Catherine asked.  
"I read about a case in Britain. Guy blew up his house by taking a gas cylinder and putting a lit taper into the valve." Grissom explained.  
"Like a Molotov cocktail?" Nick asked. Grissom nodded. "So if we find the valve how will that tell us if that's how our guy blew the thing up? Wouldn't the taper burn up?"  
"Yes, but the valve would be open and there would be burn marks on it. If the valve is closed, then the burn marks wouldn't be there." Grissom explained.  
"Do we have anything else?" Catherine asked.  
"Well there's that eye witness. But no one else seems to remember seeing the man he described."  
"What about Sara?" That question had been inevitable. Warrick and Catherine looked first from Nick and then to Grissom.  
"She's doing okay. They want to keep her in for the time being, just until they know she's all right. The explosion's given her some hearing loss, but they're confident that it'll return and she'll be just the same. I -" He stopped himself. "Let's get back to this shall we. Nick. Warrick. Go back to the scene. I want that valve. Remember. This person was targeting the police, but that doesn't mean that we're not targets. Just watch out okay. I don't want any more of my CSI's getting hurt."  
  
Catherine followed Grissom without asking him where they were going. He went down to the parking lot and got into his car before acknowledging Catherine's presence. She guessed that it was only because she climbed into the passenger seat and strapped herself in, asking, "Where're we going?"  
"I have to speak to Sara. She might have seen something." Catherine could see him tighten his hands on the steering wheel.  
"You know none of this is your fault. Right?" She asked him.  
"I called her in on her day off. Of course it's my fault. If I hadn't done that she could be here helping us right now." Catherine could see how white his knuckles were growing.  
"We're handling this fine. Besides, you thought you'd need her help at the club."  
"We're not 'handling this'. Did you know Mobley's talking about calling in the Feds? I'm not having them stepping on our toes. We're going to catch this guy." Catherine opened her mouth to reply but she was cut off by the engine starting. If it had been anyone else she probably would have insisted on driving, but Grissom, in his rage-filled state, was probably as focused as ever. He was the only person she knew like that, with the possible exception of Sara.  
  
"What does an oxygen cylinder valve look like?" Nick asked Warrick as they re-combed the crime scene. The explosion had caused debris to be thrown at least three hundred and fifty yards, although it was hard to calculate as windows had been blown out and that added to the mess.  
"It's kind of round, you know, like a pipe. It's got a little plastic tap on it which you turn to open and close the valve." Warrick explained from his position where he was crouched on the floor beside an alleyway entrance.  
"But the explosion might have caused the tap-thingy to melt right, from the heat?" Nick asked. He was looking into Sara's car, it was still lying on its side, and the evidence from the boxes was thrown all over the inside and outside of the vehicle.  
"Yeah. It's possible. Why?"  
"I think I've just found it." Nick announced holding up the evidence bag with a grin.  
  
Are you sure you didn't see anyone by the police cars?  
"I'm sure. I honestly don't know if there was anyone there. It wasn't like I was looking."  
Well did you notice anything unusual? People holding bundles? Acting suspiciously?  
"Griss. This is Las Vegas. Everyone's acting suspiciously." Sara yawned.  
"Come on Griss. She's tired. She didn't see anything." Catherine touched his arm.  
"I'm fine." Sara told them as she frowned as she tried to make out what they were saying.  
When are they letting you out? Catherine wrote on the notepad, which she had snatched from Sara's bedside table.  
"Tomorrow, hopefully. They don't think there's any permanent damage to my hearing. It's temporary. The ringing has faded a little, well, it comes and goes. Still sounds like everyone is speaking through jello though." She smiled a little. "The doctor said that tomorrow morning they'll run some tests on my hearing and if they are better than the ones they ran last night then I can go home, if not then I have to stay for another night."  
Do you need anything?  
"I could use some clothes. I don't know what happened to the ones I brought in, don't think they're fit for wearing anyway. I think my keys are at work." She paused. "No." She sounded dreamy, her change in tone caused Grissom to look up. "I put them in my jacket. I must have left it somewhere." She paused and Catherine was about to put pen to paper again when she spoke. "I took my jacket off as I was getting out of the car. They were in my jacket. It's on the back seat of my car." Grissom touched her forearm and brought her out of her reverie. She looked at him blinking.  
Are you alright?  
"Uh-hmmm. I'm just tired. I think I have a spare key at work." She told Catherine.  
We'll go now. You should rest. Grissom wrote on his own piece of paper. Sara nodded and pulled the covers up.  
Outside the room Catherine turned to Grissom.  
"She will be okay and we will catch this guy." Grissom nodded dumbly. He couldn't bring himself to answer.  
"Will you be able to sort Sara out with some clothes?" He asked her as though she hadn't spoken. Catherine nodded. Grissom still had the dazed look on his face.  
"I'll drive." She told him.  
  
Catherine and Grissom headed first to the lab, then, as Nick and Warrick were still out and Brass still hadn't come up with anything from the serial number on the canister, they picked up Sara's key and drove out to her new apartment. It was the first time that either of them had been there and it took some time to find their way into the complex and to locate her apartment. The door opened into a room with a kitchen/living room. There were two doors leading off on the right hand side, of the living room and one on the left. Grissom stood awkwardly in the kitchen while Catherine took the left room, it was just the bathroom but she found Sara's hairbrush and tooth brush and pulled out some deodorant.  
"Griss. Can you find a bag for me to put this stuff into?" She asked him as she left the bathroom, dumped the stuff she had collected onto the table and continued into the room directly opposite.  
"What sort of bag?" He asked, but Catherine didn't hear him. She'd found Sara's bedroom and was faced with about fifteen boxes labeled 'clothes'. Most were open and over-flowing.  
Grissom swept the living room looking for a bag but didn't find anything and so headed into the other room on the right, the spare bedroom. There was a foldout camp bed resting up against one of the walls, a half put-together desk was against the other, her computer was fully set up on the floor. There were boxes of books but no sign of anything resembling a bag.  
"I can't find one." He told Catherine at last as he made his way into Sara's bedroom.  
"Look in the closet then." Catherine instructed as she tried to put together a matching outfit for Sara, her clothes hadn't been sorted into boxes in any particular order so the task was proving to be a little difficult. On top of that she still hadn't located Sara's shoes.  
The closet was one of the large, walk-in variety and was set into the wall. Sure enough, on the top shelf, Grissom was able to pull down a small rucksack. On the floor of the closet were some shoes. Catherine selected a few and told Grissom to pack the bag while she checked that Sara had food in her fridge for when she returned.  
They were just leaving when Grissom's cell phone rang.  
"Grissom?" He answered.  
"We got it." Came Nick's excited reply. "The oxygen cylinder valve. The plastic on it is pretty much melted, but it's here, in one piece."  
"Get it back to the lab then. We're on our way."  
Grissom hung up and he and Catherine got into the car, slinging the bag into the back. They had just left Sara's apartment's parking lot when Grissom's cell phone rang again. It was Brass.  
"Yes?" Grissom asked.  
"Hey, Gil. We've got another one."  
  
Well, I'd love to know what you think. I'm afraid this'll have to keep you going for a couple of days until I get a chance to post the next chapter. 


End file.
